We have so laughed so many times about not getting approved by EHM, though many folks seem appalled that we didn't get it. In all honesty, I have a certain smugness about this dismay that others have. It does make me feel good to know that others would consider us worth and really be in our corner for it.
But on the other hand, we seem to be experiencing "God's Extreme Home Makeover"!!!
Given the hopes to adopt (and the death of our dear Sammy) it has all resulted in a second bathroom in our house (with TWO extra sinks!)! And getting to know a great Christian contractor who also happens to be a neighbor! Amazingly, we have a second bathroom and it is more than we could ever have imagined. A full shower, a hardwood floor, a bathroom both inside the bathroom and outside, extra cabinets, and just beauty overall. We took part of our schoolroom and put the bathroom there, taking down an old unused chimney in the process. We actually GAINED room in our living room by the time we took out the old chimney - and our lovely contractor realized that built in pine bookshelves would look wonderful under the boxes they had to create for the plumbing through the living room! We gained two nearly floor to ceiling bookshelves, just gorgeous when simply polyurethaned! Thank you dear hubby for finishing that off! I cannot wait to get books on them, they will be our school bookshelves so they are handy! The kids love the bathroom (they don't have to go downstairs to go to the bathroom at night! LOL. They generally don't anyway!). But with soccer season, having two showers is a huge thing! And it is just beautiful. The down (or up) side of it is that we learned how simple it is to refinish our hardwood floors, that are really hardwood!!!! Steve bought me a random orbit sander to work on the floors with and a detail sander to finish working on the stairs (there should be a poem somewhere titled "When You Give a Mom a Sander..." - in other words, I keep finding places to use it!!!).
So, we now have a two bathroom house - two FULL bathrooms! And to top it off, my dearest dad (step-dad if you want to be precise, I generally don't) is stepping in and helping us with a barn!!!! We discovered that it was much less expensive to build a barn than we had thought - actually because what we want really isn't in height but in room for stalls! So it is a really long story, but a garage has led us to now having funds to work towards building a barn! Big enough for two box stalls for horses, cross ties for grooming, and a bunch of smaller stalls for goats! We are simply over the moon!!! We work alongside our contractor, so that helps us to afford it, and I still work to finish paying it off. I am so grateful that God has allowed us this to provide for our needs, but I sincerely do look forward to basing my life out of my home again. I would love to get some sort of income stream going more from our farm, but in the meantime, my profession has just about paid for our new bathroom, and by end of summer, we should be totally back on track with me being a stay at home mom again, though it appears that my private practice is returning! LOL! God has such a huge sense of humor!
So, by this time next year, I have no idea what God might have done! He seems to be having a ball working in things lately!
The kids are doing really well. Really, really well. As much as I would love another driver, we are in no rush to put a kid behind the wheel. Our theory is that if you cannot be responsible enough to pick up your laundry, that we really should think twice about putting you behind the wheel of a vehicle. And that is OK. Everyone is healthy beyond little colds, my back is doing quite well (I am so very grateful!!!), Steve is healthy and mobile, the kids are just amazing. We are so blessed. We might not be wealthy in the ways of the world (though we aren't doing too badly that way), but oh, we are so very rich!
Happy Father's Day to everyone!!!! God bless you all!
"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11
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